Dengue Outbreak: Plateau reached; Laboratory Confirmed Cases for November is 88, almost 100 less than in October
Dengue Action Response Team (DART), the Island Governments multidisciplinary team coordinating the nation’s dengue response, confirmed on Monday that for the month of November there were 88 laboratory confirmed dengue cases, compared to 187 for October.
DART has reached the conclusion that the count of patients have reached a plateau since the outbreak started back in August/September 2008.
Persons experiencing dengue fever-like symptoms should immediately contact their family physician. Persons should also follow-through by going to the lab to have a dengue fever test carried out to determine if they actually have the virus.
The Island Government approved an emergency budget of over Naf.300,000 last year to cover a number of interventions related to the outbreak which will continue in 2009.
Some of the interventions taken comprised of house-to-house/yard inspections; increase in vector control fogging activities; and presentations to non-governmental organizations and schools.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection that causes a severe flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults, but seldom causes death.
Anyone requiring information concerning measures to prevent mosquito breeding or to report areas of standing water, overgrown vegetation etc should immediately call the Hygiene Department at 542-2079.